Product Intro

Illusiat is a series of mostly calculator RPGs that came out from 2001 to 2009, consisting of 13 games and a few remakes. The first 12 games were originally only available in French, but by 2005 most were translated to English. There are no French version of Illusiat 13. The first five games of the series, along with the 8th, features room-to-room movement with graph screen dungeon layouts, but the rest switches to freely explorable rooms made of ASCII art tilemaps. Illusiat 5 is the only game of the series that is a point-and-click game rather than an RPG.

Illusiat is notable for being the longest RPG series on TI calculators, both in terms of amount of releases and lifetime. Although the series is the oldest of all the Omnimaga RPGs, it only gained notoriety starting in 2009, after Youtube videos of most games were published. Despite never having received a ticalc.org feature, unlike The Reign of Legends and Reuben Quest series, Illusiat is now the most popular of all the Omnimaga calculator RPG series.

Illusiat (2001)

The first game of the series is very simple, featuring one dungeon with three bosses, one kind of enemy (which increases in strenght over the course of the game) and three kind of battle moves. It was released in 2001 in French. In 2002 it was recoded from scratch and shrank by 10000 bytes. then translated to English in 2004. A remake utilizing Illusiat 12 map and battle engines was released in 2003 as part of the Illusiat 2004 compilation, in French only. A TI-81 remake was released in 2008 (see below).

Illusiat 2 (2001)

This game looks similar to Illusiat 2, using the same graphics and most maps layouts, but it has two dungeons, one being optional. In 2002 it was recoded from scratch and shrank by 10000 bytes. A remake utilizing Illusiat 12 map and battle engines was released in 2003 as part of the Illusiat 2004 compilation, in French only. The original version was translated in English in 2004.

Illusiat 3 (2001)

This game used the same map engine as the previous two, but it was way longer. Although every dungeon were optional, they were still necessary to go through so you are at an high-enough level to beat the final foe. It was the first game to feature an actual leveling up system and there were three dungeons. In 2003 it was recoded from scratch and included an option to switch the game between French, English and Spanish languages. A remake utilizing Illusiat 12 map and battle engines was released in 2003 as part of the Illusiat 2004 compilation, in French only.

Illusiat 4 (2002, unreleased)

This game featured a more linear story than the other games and was the first of only two in the series to feature graphical villages and NPC's (although menu-based towns would return in Illusiat 6, graphical ones, along with NPC's, would return only in Illusiat 13). While the dungeon maps were less graphical than in the three original games, battles, animations and the world map were much richer in detail. Unfortunately, shortly after its completion, the entire game data and code was lost in a memory clear, along with the Illusiat 2002 project that went into development after Illusiat 4 release. As a result, the original version of the game is no longer available today. However, you can get a small idea of how the game story was, as it has been remade in ASCII art like the first three games and is available with them in the Illusiat 2004 compilation, in French.

Illusiat 2002: The Ultimate Quest (2002, unfinished and unreleased)

This game was going to be the 5th game of the series and the first to feature fully explorable maps. It was also different in the way that it featured 3D-looking maps like in Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX on the Playstation rather than 2D bird-view maps. It was also the only game in the series to feature battle parties of 3 characters versus one monster rather than one on one battles. It was also the first to not fit completely in RAM, requiring the game to be split into multiple chapters.

Unfortunately, in late February 2002, the calculator archive that contained the game became corrupted, with no way to salvage its content back in the days. With no way to perform backups beforehand (due to lack of other available calculators and link cables), the entire game progress, along with Illusiat 4, were lost forever.

Illusiat 5: The Ultimate Quest (2002, ported to calculators in 2003)

Unlike the rest of the series, Illusiat 5 is not a role-playing game, but rather a point-n-click adventure game like Myst or Monkey Island, where you must collect keys to make your way to the dungeon exit. If you find every item, a different ending appears. Also, this game was first released on Windows rather than calculators, although a TI-83 Plus port was released shortly after Illusiat 12 release. The calculator version was translated in english in 2005.

Illusiat 6 (2002, re-released as Nemesiat on 83/82 STATS in 2003)

After a hiatus, the Illusiat series continued with Illusiat 6, the first to feature fully explorable maps and the second to feature a town. However, because of the game extreme difficulty, an easy mode was eventually added.

In 2003, this game was re-released on the older TI-83 (now the TI-82 STATS) calculator model in English, under the Nemesiat title. It was renamed to Nemesiat because it was the only Illusiat game available for that older platform and at the time it was also the only one of two Illusiat games to be available in English. In 2005, however, a new English version of Illusiat 6 was released on the 83+ calculator series, this time keeping the original name.

Illusiat 7: The Legend of Gwaf (2002)

This game used the same engine as the previous one, but it was much longer and less linear. It was the second Illusiat game after the unreleased Illusiat 2002 to be split into chapters. Also, the level system in this game was a bit different. Each individual stat had its own level, so after you gained an amount of experience, you would choose to increase your HP, MP, attack, defense or speed. At the start of the game, you could choose between 4 characters, which started with different stats, although since the characters had no unique ability distinguishing each other, the character choice would eventually no longer make any difference as the game progresses. In 2003, it was re-released with an ASM utility that automated the chapter switching process. It was translated in English in 2005.

Illusiat 8 (2002)

Illusiat 8 went back to the old dungeon format seen in Illusiat 1 through 4 to a certain extent, where pressing an arrow would move to an entirely new room instantly. However, it would switch to a new side view battle system that would remain for the rest of the series. However in this game, as some sort of tribute to Final Fantasy VIII, which had the same number as Illusiat 8, the game got rid of the MP system to replace it with a magic system similar to the one in Final Fantasy VIII, where it was possible to draw individual copies of magic spells from enemies to use them later. Also, while this game returned to the standard RPG level up system seen in Illusiat 3, 4, 6 and 7, it would still retain elements from the previous game. While all your stats would increase each level, you could get a bonus in one of them, like in Super Mario RPG. The game was shorter than Illusiat VII, though. It was translated in English in 2005.

Illusiat 9: Shadow (2002)

This game returned to the Illusiat 6 and 7 mapping system and the older leveling up system, and like Illusiat 7, it was split into chapters to accomodate the limited calculator RAM (although like Illusiat 7, it would get re-released in 2003 to automate the chapter switching process). It was much longer than the other games released before and featured a more complex story. It was also the first to feature multiple weapon equipment, although you could not actively change them and there were only two weapon. In the middle of the game, you would simply have your sword temporarily replaced with the excalibur and your attack would be much higher. It was possible to retrieve it back near the end, through an optional quest. This was the only game of the series where the author was aided by a co-author: His brother worked on some of the game content such as magic spells, items, parts of the story and names. It was translated in English in 2005.

Illusiat 10 (2002)

Although this game map system was similar to the previous game, the battle, menu and level system were different. Battles were in real-time graphical format and you pressed a number key to choose your spell in one keypress, requiring stamina that would re-fill over time. Every enemy had 50 HP, so damage was based on their defense. You could find or buy items to increase your attack and defense higher, although it also increased when you leveled up. The game story also featured graphical cutscenes and you had to travel between multiple planets. It was translated to English in 2005.

Illusiat 11 (2002)

Returning to the Illusiat 8 and 9 battle style, Illusiat 11 was the most popular of the Illusiat games back in the days, due partly to its unique battle command system where it was possible to change them between battles. For example, you could allow your character to use magic and items or other things such as viewing enemy HP and using special techniques. Only one or two extra command could be added to the menu, depending of your level. In addition to that, it was the only game in the series to feature armors. You could also buy weapons or find secret equipment. The game was also pretty long compared to the others, although nowhere close as Illusiat 12. It also featured more side quests in general. It was translated to English in 2005.

Illusiat 11: Kin Master Quest (2007)

In 2006, a new version of Illusiat 11 went under development, but was only released one year after completion. It is the same as Illusiat 11, except that regular enemies are much stronger and battle commands are gained at much higher levels. Enemies gave much more experience, though, and bosses remained at their original skill level.

This game remained available until April 2008, but then it was thought to be lost completely in data losses. In November 2012, the author found an copy again on an old DVD that contained an Early 2007 Omnimaga files backup (although the game was publicly released in August 2007, the file had been online since September 2006) and put it back online.

Illusiat 12 (2002)

Illusiat 12 was originally going to be the final game of the series and by far the longest. It also featured an updated version of the map engine, allowing better ASCII art-based graphics. Magic animations were also more complex. While the story was twice longer than Illusiat 9, 10 and 11 (featuring 10 chapters instead of 4 or 5), the much higher game difficulty and leveling up requirement plays a big role in its lenght. The storyline and overall system returned to something simple, more standard, however, than in Illusiat 11. At the end of the game, there is a message stating that it's the end of the Illusiat series. It was released on December 27th 2002 then translated in English in May 2005.

Illusiat 13: The Final Chapter (2009, unfinished)

Although the series originally ended at 12, a new game went into development over 6 years later. Unlike the previous games, this game was recoded from scratch, including the map and battle engine, while still keeping elements from Illusiat 12. Maps, however, were much more complex due to the new data format, and loaded much faster. Due to new ASM tools, despite the game story being much longer and complex than Illusiat 12 (although gameplay is actually shorter due to easier difficulty), the chapter system seen in previous games was eliminated, the game now being in one big part, with the ability to re-visit almost every area of the game as you wish. The magic system returned to illusiat 8 style, except without the draw command from Final Fantasy VIII. Weapons and armors were also eliminated, now using magic rings as replacement. Because you could equip 4 rings at once, it was possible to stack their effect together, so for example with 4 regen rings about 25% of your HP would be regenerated every battle turn, and there were even rings to double one of your stats.

This game was also particular regarding its story: Unlike the previous Illusiat games, which were not a specific chronology of each others, Illusiat 13 unified them all and acted as a sequel to all 12, featuring the final bosses of each of them (except Illusiat 1 and 2) as regular boss fights at some points in the game. It was even possible to re-visit certain area and dungeon maps from Illusiat 4 remake and Illusiat 12, although a lot of them were now in ruins, the game occuring centuries later.

Unfortunately, around 90% completion, the project was cancelled. What has been done would eventually get released in September 2009 and the only further updates that would get done are bugfixes of the already finished areas. Only the final dungeon sequence of the game, along with one of the optional dungeons, are not finished, so as a result, almost the entire game is fully playable.

This game is only available in English.

Illusiat 2004 (2003)

Illusiat 2004 is a bundle of remakes of the first four games in the Illusiat series. The remake of Illusiat 4 that it contains is the only version of that game still available today. Initially, this package was not going to include Illusiat 4 right away: A 3-game bundle would come out, then the Illusiat 4 remake would only get added once the original version of it is re-created from scratch the released, but the latter finally never happened and Illusiat 2004 finally included all 4 game remakes 2 months later. The remakes used Illusiat 12 map and battle engines, with the aid of ASM libraries used in The Reign of Legends 2. An English version of Illusiat 2004, named Illusiat 2004-R, went into development in 2010, but it was ultimately cancelled.